Inspiration Archives - MAP AND MOVE

I was the kid in 4th grade that loved when the day’s schedule was outlined on the chalkboard in the beginning of class each morning.

I found comfort in knowing that 9:00 was math time, 10:00 was English and Noon was lunchtime. This routine carried into my later years, where color–coordinated agendas and to-do lists ran my life. I even made a mental list of how my future would go: graduate from college, find a job, fall in love and make gorgeous and/or ugly babies whom I’ll love anyway because my future family would represent my success in checking off another item off my list.

My list decided to self-destruct two months before my college graduation, when I found out I had cancer. As I stared numbly at the “Bald is Beautiful” posters in the doctor’s office, I found myself still so determined to draw out my now very vague future. I mentally planned when I would re apply to internships and jobs. I saw it as the same as before, just adding a few chemo treatments into the agenda. And for a while, my plan worked; I struggled to finish my senior year courses online in-between chemo sessions, and even managed to organize my chemo schedule so I could drive back upstate to sit with my classmates at graduation.

Reality didn’t get its shit together until the day I lost my hair.

All of it. Because that, my dear friends, was the very gut wrenching, tug-on-your-heart-strings moment where I acknowledged that my illness was real. That night, I stared in the mirror for the longest time with tears brimming in my eyes. I finally admitted to myself that I was no longer in charge of where life would take me, and I had no choice but to accept it.

At first, it felt like I had lost the instruction manual to building a piece of Ikea furniture; there was no more step-by-step direction to what the outcome would be. Without losing sight of my general goals, I slowly learned to stop placing deadlines on tasks. As a result, there was so much time allotted for experiences I never would have planned for. I met amazing cancer survivors and fighters, began cooking more, created a blog, and even went on trips with my family. Ironically, cancer did the complete opposite of what it was meant to do: it made me a much happier person.

A photo a friend took after my first round of chemo. It took two years for my hair to grow back.

Two years and two cancer recurrences later, I managed to complete my internship and pass my licensing exam for dietitians. I adapted with each recurrence, seeing it as a new route to pave my future. I knew I was a better version of myself when I accepted a job offer one week after finding out that my cancer had spread to my lungs, having zero idea how I would balance having a full time career along with being a full time 25-year-old with shitty lungs.

This story doesn’t end with a dazzling description of my success, because in real life, it doesn’t really matter how any story ends, does it? With the infinite amount of possibilities that could happen between the beginning and the destination, why focus on one expected ending?

I fly on one-way tickets. My travel stories almost always involve meeting a stranger. When asking about my status, close friends know better to inquire where I am, rather than how I’m doing.

I’m 98% sure that the same people will find it ironic that I’m writing any sort of article implying pragmatism in the title. But what they may not consider is that I am the firstborn daughter of immigrant parents. And as the subject of both older-child syndrome andTiger parenting, my unconventional tendencies have always been grounded by logic, even quitting my job. Twice. So here’s a practical list of when and why it makes sense to re-think your current 9-t0-5, or anything else for that matter.

1. To quit, I first didn’t quit.

Let me preface this by saying that I hate quitting. I stayed at my first job for four years (a veteran compared to how long people stay in one apartment in New York City, much less a job). I wanted to make sure that I was leaving for the right reasons: that I wasn’t leaving because I had a few bad weeks at work, that I hated one particular project I was assigned, or that I was just tired of a rough commute. (Getting wedged between someone’s armpit and a guy’s gym bag during rush hour is a daily routine when you’re my size.)

I wanted to make sure that I was leaving because I was plateauing on the learning curve, that my resume was no longer expanding, and that I wasn’t growing on a personal level. When I tallied the list in my head, and the cons of staying outweighed the pros of job security, I handed in my two weeks notice.

2. We waste time by being scared of wasting time.

I speak at universities about travel and personal development and I hear the same story again and again: people questioning their majors, and later on their careers. They are scared of starting over and admitting that what they had signed up for wasn’t right for their skills, interests or personality.

While quitting and starting over in a different field or taking a break from work seems contradictory to progress, the times that I left my job and the occasions where I’ve turned down offers, ended up being my most productive periods. I realized that every day I spent doing something that I wasn’t really interested in, was a wasted opportunity I could have used to pursue something else. I used the time off to research alternate options, to practice new skills, and to network with people who could potentially help me with my career later on. And traveling? It’s the perfect set-up to get you out of your routine and to re-evaluate all of the above.

3. I got comfortable with being uncomfortable.

I hear it often: people are afraid of leaving a major or comfortable job because they are afraid they won’t find something better. I was one of them; I spent three out of my four college years in a major that wasn’t right for me and later on at a job I was no longer happy at. I realized that I was so concerned about not lining something up for the future, that I was neglecting the present. I finally accepted that uncertainty is an inevitable part of the process and instead of focusing on why I wasn’t qualified for something, I focused on doing the things that would get me there.

4. I stopped postponing.

For a good two-thirds of my life, I told myself that because I’m young and have time, I can travel and pursue my own business after I work at X number of companies. I applied this thinking to most things I did. I can pursue [i an awesome, life-changing activity] after I finish [iconventionally responsible activity]. The danger of this way of thinking is that we get comfortable. And familiarity breeds indifference and lack of action. It wasn’t until I gave myself a timeline that I left my first job and went on my first solo trek to Africa and it was the most life-changing thing I ever did.

5. I made friends with my finances.

People often assume that I’m like this to be doing the amount of traveling that I do andto be such a strong proponent of quitting your job. But what most people don’t know is that I set myself up for that sort flexibility years beforeDuring my first years out of college, I ate, slept and played within my means. I don’t think I was the only frugal college grad, but I do think that we tend to be more lenient on the day-to-day or material things: a Starbucks Frappuccino everyday, a designer bag that cost a month’s salary, or a new car bought on credit.

With the money I didn’t spend on those things, I paid off my student loans, invested in stocks instead of Louis Vuittons, and cushioned my bank account with savings. And with those savings, I was able to justify (while still hesitantly at first) leaving my job and giving myself the luxury of freedom and time to pursue more meaningful things.

6. I stopped making excuses.

Many of us– myself included– are privileged enough to be born in a stable country, with a roof over our heads and food on the table. We don’t really, truly have much to complain about. Traveling really hit the nail on the head for me. For the first time in my life, I witnessed young women carrying babies, tending to makeshift shoves hawking out their homemade goods. I saw punt-sized kids hanging on to their younger siblings, while selling trinkets on the streets. These were self-made entrepreneurs pooling whatever resources they had to pave their way. What excuse did I have to not take a risk and make things happen?

Words of wisdom to live and travel by: A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving. | The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. | Hide your gold, your faith and the reason of you journey…

ABOUT US

Map&Move is a group for travelers with a zest for adventure, meeting new people, and rallying for a good cause. When we're not on the road, we organize micro adventures, spontaneous bar crawls, fun skill shares, and volunteer events in NYC. Join us!